Pearly-Thinaah in Hong Kong Open Final as Jin Wei falls in semis

Iklan
M. Thinaah (right) and Pearly Tan reached their second final this year at the Hong Kong Open

KUALA LUMPUR - Top national women's doubles pair Pearly Tan-M. Thinaah are on course to claim their first title this season after cruising into the final of the Hong Kong Open 2023 badminton championships.

In today's semi-finals at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Kowloon, Pearly-Thinaah were in their element from start to finish en route to ousting Thailand's Benyapa Aimsaard-Nuntakarn Aimsaard 21-13, 21-18, in 36 minutes.

Iklan
Iklan

This is the Malaysians’ second straight win over the Aimsaard sisters after the current world number 10 had overcome the same opponents 21-19, 21-17 in the first round of the Thailand Open 2020.

Pearly-Thinaah will be featuring in their second final this season, having gone down fighting 22-20, 8-21, 21-17 to South Korea's Baek Ha Na-Lee So Hee in the Malaysia Masters 2023 in May.

Iklan

The sixth-seeded Pearly-Thinaah last won a title in October 2022 when they stunned two-time world champions Mayu Matsumoto-Wakana Nagahara of Japan 21-19, 18-21, 21-15 in the French Open.

In tomorrow's final, Pearly-Thinaah will face the winner of the other semi-final between seventh-seeded Apriyani Rahayu-Siti Fadia Silva Ramadhanti of Indonesia and the unseeded Maiken Fruergaard-Sara Thygesen of Denmark.

Iklan

Meanwhile, Goh Jin Wei’s journey came to an end after the former world junior women’s singles champion fell 14-21, 11-21 to China's in-form Zhang Yi Man in just 29 minutes.

The defeat is her first to Yi Man in four outings.- BERNAMA

Iklan